


Memories of Her

by NiallJ97



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:02:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26516410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiallJ97/pseuds/NiallJ97
Summary: A short story with Chloe and Rachel.They wake up together in Chloe's room one sunny morning, but not all is as it seems.
Relationships: Rachel Amber/Chloe Price
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	Memories of Her

As dawn broke out, Chloe’s room started to fill with light.

Sunlight gently kissed the windowsill, starting to filter more and more through the large American flag covering the open window. The flag swayed ever so slightly with the soft breeze.

Chloe was usually pretty good at mentally blocking out the light of the approaching day. Getting up early in the summer was never really at the top of her list of priorities. But today, she was at peace with her lack of sleep.

She couldn’t quite remember when she had woken up. It didn’t seem to matter. All that mattered was that right now, at this moment, she seemed to feel okay for once. She felt relaxed in a way that brought her back to previous times.

Rachel squinted as she woke. The constant glints and reflections of light, bouncing off the white-plastered walls, had taken their toll.

She kept her eyes closed, more bothered than Chloe at the apparent lack of sleep she seemed to have accomplished. The room felt unusually cool for the time of year, maybe because of her lack of duvet overnight. But more importantly, it was too bright!

Rachel refused to even remotely untighten her eyes; she wasn’t giving up that easy. She rolled to her left, pushing her head further down into the pillow to try and find a portion of sweet darkness. Although comforting, it soon wore off and the room only found itself getting brighter as the sun rose higher. Her protest, however valiant, had been proven to be in vain.

Chloe stretched her feet towards the edge of the bed, not getting anywhere near close to reaching the end. It was one of the great advantages of having a huge bed all to herself, relaxation was never a problem. Rachel was now consciously aware that her fight was futile and stretched in reaction. It was so easy to forget she was in Chloe’s presence, she felt so comfortable around her.

She finally opened her eyes, dazzled and watery. The familiar shape of Chloe next to her slowly began to reveal itself; her blue hair looking particularly resplendent in the morning light. Chloe was lying on her back, looking thoughtfully up towards a patch in the ceiling.

Rachel watched her for a little while, as her eyes adjusted. Chloe had stuck by her side no matter what since they’d met, she was a true companion. She was so lucky to have met her, at a time she needed it most. Something never to be taken for granted.

After solely admiring Chloe’s facial outline for a solid couple of minutes, Rachel turned onto her back herself to see if she could find the patch in the ceiling that Chloe was so fascinated by. Chloe’s room wasn’t in perfect condition; the ceiling had some darker marks on it and signs of wear... maybe even signs of fiery projectiles being thrown into it. But it was okay, it didn’t detract anything from the room’s decor. It made it feel homely.

Chloe swivelled, moving her legs to the side of the bed and propelling herself upwards with a graceful bounce. She glanced up at the ceiling again, before grabbing her phone from her bedside cabinet.

“Morning.” Rachel half-spoke, half-yawned. She lazily moved over to face Chloe again.

Chloe stood for a few seconds, skimming through her notifications. She too yawned and then tossed the phone onto the bed, landing it a couple of inches in front of Rachel’s nose.

With a skip in her step, Chloe opened the bedroom door and left.

It wasn’t unlike Chloe to behave in odd ways at times. Heck, Rachel knew first-hand the extent of mood swings. At different times of day, she could hit just about every part of the emotional spectrum. Still, Rachel felt puzzled. She didn’t like not knowing or understanding people.

A few minutes later and Chloe was back, this time with wet hair and a towel around her body.

Chloe headed towards her closet, built into the wall. She slid open the door; her self-proclaimed ‘fashion-hole’ had definitely seen tidier days. She paused for a second, rubbing her hand up and down the edge of the left-hand side wall.

Rachel glanced at that side of the closet, a section that Chloe had dedicated to her. It was so sweet and typical of Chloe, that she’d let her keep so many of her clothes at her house - even if she did steal them without asking on occasions. It made sense as after all, she was spending more time here now than at her own house.

Rachel stretched and sat upright, forcing her tired legs over the side of the bed. Chloe’s bedroom window was right next to her shoulder. She peeked out the gap at the familiar view; the houses across the way and the steep, forested hills of Arcadia Bay. As much as her desire to leave the town was strong, she did love this side of it. The natural beauty on offer was unlike most places in the world, she imagined.

Chloe was now perusing what to wear. “So, what’s up Chlo?” Rachel asked, turning again to face her.

Nothing. No response. “Hey!” she shouted, albeit curiously.

Chloe kept silent, staring at a thick black jacket. She picked it out from between her tops and carefully inspected it, before placing back down into Rachel’s side of the closet. She started browsing again.

Rachel stood up, concerned. “Did something happen? What’s the matter?” Rachel thought back to last night, but couldn’t recall a single thing.

“Hey. You’re starting to worry me, talk to me Chloe.” Chloe was picking out a white shirt and pulling it over her head.

Rachel moved towards her and the closet, gently putting her arm around Chloe’s waist. She closed her eyes, uncertain if she’d done anything to upset her. When she opened them again Chloe had vanished, a quick swivel revealing her new position towards the window.

Chloe leant down, arms resting against the windowsill and taking in all the scenery. She was still not giving Rachel any recognition at all.

Rachel approached her again, cautiously. “Look; if you’re mad at me, can you please say? Don’t be silent like this.” Rachel winced. “If I did something wrong... if something bad happened, please just tell me. I don’t know if I’m hungover, tired or what but I don’t remember even a single thing about last night. I-"

Rachel was cut off as Chloe stood up, turned around and walked right through her.

Rachel stood frozen, paralysed by the shock. The American flag kept swaying in the breeze, Chloe rooted busily around the room behind her.

She was aware of every little sound in the room, all the little sensations – the creaks of the floorboards, the sunlight and breeze on her skin, even how hungry she was. Yet something felt imperatively wrong.

A sense of dread started to fall over her. Her hands started to shake as she looked down at them. She suddenly found herself gasping for breath.

“Oh god.” Rachel bent double.

“Chloe. Chloe! Chloe please, just... answer me.” Tears broke through as she struggled to speak.

Chloe was looking through her desk drawers, completely oblivious to her presence.

Rachel remembered dying.

She remembered how sick she’d felt lying on that hard floor, she remembered the sheer pain of the headaches from the drugs she’d been given. She remembered how betrayed she’d felt when she realised it was Nathan, her supposed friend, who’d brought her to that dark place. She remembered her disbelief when Nathan gave his reasoning. She remembered the shock of seeing who the ringleader was.

She remembered him telling her how she was going to die.

Now she was here. What was this? She’d never given the afterlife much serious thought, but it didn’t feel right. What could explain her being here right now? Was she imagining it all?

Rachel stayed in the same spot for a little while, with her head in her hands. The thoughts racing through her head weren’t giving her any more clarity. She stood up straight again and turned to look down at the now-kneeling Chloe, almost as if to wait for her eyes to stop playing tricks on her. To let this dream have a chance to end.

This... nightmare.

But it went on.

“Chloe, I...,” She paused, wondering what meaning any of this even had. Chloe obviously couldn’t hear or see her. But as she thought about it, she realised that she was still here in Chloe’s room... there must be some reason for that. She regained some composure.

“Chloe, I’m so sorry.” Chloe stood up from the desk, holding what looked like a piece of paper. As Rachel moved in to look over her shoulder, Chloe walked away again.

“I can’t believe this. If this is it, I wish things had gone differently... I can’t believe they actually did that to me. I thought Nathan was... I thought he was my fucking friend. I trusted him.” She realised she didn’t know when this was, how long it had been or whether it had even happened.

Rachel went on a quick investigative search of the room for clues. It didn’t take long. Sat on Chloe’s desk were a small bunch of missing person posters and Rachel’s own face was staring back at her in print.  
Rachel felt sick again. So this was it. This was real.

“I should’ve been more careful, I can’t believe such a simple trick got me like that. It’s literally partying 101, watch your drinks... and I still fell for it. I shouldn’t have gone to that stupid thing without you.”  
She held the thought for a second, flirting with how differently things could have turned out with Chloe by her side.

“What made that fucker decide all of a sudden?”

Chloe was fiddling with what looked like a photograph in her hands, trying to press out the creases. Once fairly satisfied, she placed it flat on her bedside table.

“Then he took me somewhere... and that freak showed up. Him of all people. The way he explained everything like it was so... ordinary, so matter of fact. He told me Nathan had messed up, that I’d arrived there too early. He told me that I knew too much. He took this syringe and...,”

She shivered as she remembered the moment.

“I can’t think about it anymore. I can’t.”

Rachel was watching her shoelaces. She couldn’t help but feel thrown off by how strange everything was, yet if this was a dream there was so much detail. She was wearing the last outfit she remembered having on, in that place. It all felt so... impossible. But she had to stay focused on what mattered, on what made sense to her.

“I wish it hadn’t ended like that Chloe, there’s so much I need to tell you.” Rachel looked back over at her companion. Chloe was never going to understand, not really. She shouldn’t have kept it from her.

“I...,” She looked away again, not able to face her and speak at the same time. The tears came back.

“I was with Frank. Not seriously, not really anyway. It was just to help us out in the long run... that plan went superbly.”

“The point is, I’m sorry Chloe. I’m so sorry. I hope you don’t find out, for your sake as much as anything. Maybe you’ll never believe it, but I love you more than anything.”

As Rachel spoke, Chloe moved back towards her bed and lay down again softly. She placed her hands behind her head and gazed back up towards the patch in the ceiling.

“I wish I was here to tell you, to explain it all. You deserve that at the very least. I should’ve just told you the fucking truth.”

Rachel wiped the tears from her face. “It’s not like me saying any of this matters, anyway.”

Rachel walked slowly back across the room, towards the closet. Her clothes were all arranged neatly in order, hung up in obvious separation from Chloe’s.

As she examined them closer, she noticed a small layer of dust on one of the shirt’s shoulders. So they had been there for a while. Rachel blew and gently rubbed at the dust with her hand. The shirt pulled away from the hanger with a clang and dropped to the floor.

Chloe bolted upright on her bed. She stared at the shirt on the floor; Rachel had already instinctively half-gotten down to pick it up. Rachel jumped at Chloe’s movement, realising what was happening.

Tentatively, she looked up at Chloe. Their eyes met.

Rachel didn’t say anything. She just stared back, in shock and awe. Seconds passed.

Chloe held her stare for a good few seconds more. Eventually, she sighed and threw her head back down onto her pillow.

Rachel’s legs gave way. She found herself sat on the floor and bawling, beside her fallen shirt.

“I wish things were different.”

It made no sense as to why she found herself in this reality. It all felt so confrontational, so overwhelming... and for what? She had no purpose here, not really.

Yet something did have a sense of purpose. One person.

Rachel stood up and moved back towards Chloe on the bed. She lay down next to her once more, gripping her hand with her own.

“I wish I could tell you that I love you.”


End file.
